What does liquidizer mean?
A liquidizer is an appliance that turns food or another solid material into a liquid, purée, or smooth mixture. Its best-known use is blending fruit, vegetables, ice, and other ingredients, much as an ordinary blender does, although “liquidizer” can also apply to larger or more technical processing equipment. The term sounds descriptive and practical: it names the machine by the result it produces. In everyday speech, “blender” is generally more common and more immediately recognizable. “Liquidizer” tends to appear in technical, culinary, product, and instructional contexts where the blending function is being stated explicitly. Although the word is used in both British and American English, the spelling varies: liquidizer is common in American usage, whereas liquidiser is widespread in British usage. The plural is liquidizers.
nounA liquidizer is a machine that reduces food or another solid substance to a liquid or smooth purée. In everyday English, it is commonly called a blender.
- An appliance that reduces food or another solid substance to a liquid, purée, or smooth mixture.
"She tipped the berries into the liquidizer and pulsed them until the mixture was smooth."
"She tipped the berries into the liquidizer and pulsed them until the mixture was smooth."
"The laboratory used a high-speed liquidizer to prepare the sample."
The standard plural is used when referring to more than one liquidizer or to different models or types of liquidizer.
"The kitchen has three liquidizers, each designed for a different task."
Wonderfully literal: a liquidizer is simply a machine whose job is to make things liquid.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does liquidizer come from?
Liquidizer was formed in English from liquidize plus the agentive suffix -er, which identifies a person or device performing an action. The wider vocabulary derives from Latin liquidus, meaning “fluid” or “liquid,” ultimately connected with Latin liquere, “to be fluid.” Related English words include liquid, liquefy, liquefaction, and liquidity, while liquidizer itself emphasizes the tool that performs the act of making a substance liquid.
Related word forms
How liquidizer is actually used
The word is formal or technical in many contexts, although it is also used conversationally, particularly in discussions of food preparation. American English commonly uses the spelling liquidizer, while British English often uses liquidiser; most everyday speakers say blender.
Easily confused with liquidizer
A liquidizer usually blends food into a purée, whereas a liquefier more commonly denotes equipment that converts a gas into a liquid.